Flight or Fight (toilet water)

A few mornings ago, I left the Montana with both Ians sound asleep (Yes, big Ian was to work that day, too, but he needed a bit more beauty sleep just then.) and went over to the office to start my day of work. Just as I was setting my water, banana and Diet Coke on the desk, Ronna came down the stairs (her family's living quarters are upstairs) and said, "Kathy, I have other plans for you and Ian today." For a terrifying split second, my mind whirrled - did she want me to clean bathrooms? After all, I had told her I'd do anything except clean toilets unless it was an emergency. Was that emergency now circling like a buzzard?

No, it was much better than that. Ronna proceeded to tell me that Natron Air, one of the small tourist airlines on the Peninsula, had some empty seats on a bear watching flight and if we could be at the Soldotna Airport within an hour, we could go! "How much?" I asked, knowing those flights aren't cheap. "It's free," she replied. "If you have a good time, just suggest them to our guests."

"Yes, we can be there in less than an hour, no problem!" Of course, in the back of my head I knew Ian was still asleep, but I'd get him up one way or the other. We would NOT miss that flight!

"Oh, what about little Ian?" I suddenly remembered him. We couldn't leave him home alone. Maybe the two Ians could stay home while I go. Maybe I could stay home with him and let big Ian go. (Could I really be that generous??)

Ronna suggested calling Natron and see if maybe he could go half price, but if not, she would watch him for us. I called them, standing right there at the desk, and believe it or not, the lady said yes, they had a 3rd empty seat available, and no, there would no charge for him either - she would just throw him in with us! Wow, unbelievable. Between the three of us, that would have been well over $1,000 if we had had to pay for the experience.

Well, you can imagine how I rushed back to the Montana, ran inside, yelling to the Ians to get up, we have to be at the Soldotna airport in 1/2 hour (they would have taken a few more snores if I told them we really had an hour). "We're going to ride an airplane to go see the bears! For free!" That woke them up. I swear I've never seen either Ian move so fast! I'm sure we were in the truck within 15 minutes and only a few minutes later walked into the small office/waiting area of Natron Air. Another couple, from Australia, was also waiting to board the same plane. By the way, as we drove around the parameter of the small airport serving the locals who owned small aircraft rather than a second car, little Ian was eyeing all the little planes, then said, "I want to go on one with the wings on the bottom, not on top like those." I pointed out that he wouldn't be able to see the ground then. A few seconds later, he said, "I want two engines on our plane." I told him I'm sure we'd only have one for the reasons that popped into my head - the weight, gas usage, not necessary, etc.

Anyway, the pilot, tall, youngish, and smiling and wearing no uniform, but jeans and an ordinary plaid shirt, as if he'd just come back from the store, eventually came from another room, introduced himself, and led the five of us outside to our little plane. It was a 7-seater, and we all piled in, chose our seats, donned our earphones and tested them so we could talk to each other and the pilot. The pilot made some calls to get clearance, and before we knew it, we were propelling down the runway. It didn't take long at all to be airborne. I don't know how high we went, but it was thrilling. Seeing things from high above sure puts a different perspective on them. The Kenai river that runs behind the ranch looked like a crooked blue ribbon, the forest of pine and other trees of the Peninsula looked like a rough green carpet. Within minutes we were crossing over the Cook Inlet. I asked the pilot what the orange things in the water were, and he said they are the bouyies on the nets the commercial fishermen put out. The white caps and the varying shades of blue water made me want to be in it, but knowing how cold the water would be put a damper on the thought.

The pilot was talking to his contact on the ground when he was told the beach area we were to land in was fogged in. We went a bit further in hopes the fog would lift, but eventually the pilot told us there was no sense in trying to land in the fog. He had been told that the fog descended all the way down to the beach. Not only would it be unsafe to land in those conditions, but if there were any bears, we wouldn't be able to see them anyway. So, the decision was made to turn around and go back. It was disappointing to us all, but what little time we had up there was thrilling, so it wasn't a total loss.

On the flight back, my mind wandered and imagined my older brother Mike, the airplane mechanic, asking me things such as what model the plane was, what size engine, how many screws in the right side wing, what brand of tires it had, etc., etc., etc., all of which I don't know and really didn't care about. As long as it got us there and back safely was all I cared about. But, next time I'll try to get that info just for him.

Anyway, once we all were back in the Natron waiting room, the pilot asked if we wanted to go the next morning. It was fine with us, but the Australians were leaving Alaska later that day, so it was agreed that Ian and I would wait 'til we hear from Natron again as to when they had some extra seats and there was no fog. We're still waiting.....

By the way, diesel is now $5.25 a gallon. We have no choice but to pay it, but I try to make myself feel better about it by saying it's the electrical/water/garbage/oil payments we'd be making if we lived in our house. There's always a trade-off, and so far it's worth it. Ian will just have to play Santa again this winter to get us home!


Yesterday morning the two Ians and I went along with some of the guests and Carroll, the patriarch of the ranching family, to visit a commercial net fishing operation. We learned they are only allowed to set out their nets twice a week, and for 12 hours each time. We watched as several small silver metal boats with 2-3 men in each one checked the nets owned by BEACHM Fishing Co. If the fish in the net were dead, they were thrown into a refrigerated compartment, but if they were still alive, the men pulled their gills out, causing a quick death, and they were added to the cold storage. A company truck with several very large ice chests met the boats at the water's edge to transfer the fish which were then quickly taken to 30 degrees, wrapped, then flash frozen before being shipped via air all over the country. The first truck that brought fish up had over 3,000 pounds of salmon and flounder in its back. We had a contest to see who could guess closest to the number of fish on the truck - I had the lowest guess at 250, and it went on up to 1800. Guess who won? As my prize (there were 283 fish), I got to chose for free from the flounder, so of course I chose a large one, which was a good thing because once Ian filleted it, there wasn't a lot of meat left. We went ahead and bought a good sized salmon from the catch just brought up, as did everyone else in the group. Couldn't really pass up the opportunity at $2.50 a pound. We had some salmon that night for dinner, and I must say it was delicious. Haven't had the flounder yet.

This morning the two Ians went clam digging with some of the other campers. The weather was not cooperative, very cold, rainy and windy, but they came back with their limit of clams. I think I'll try making clam chowder tonight. I spent the morning working on the ranch float for the 4th of July parade tomorrow, as well as doing tons of laundry, brought on by the fact that the toilet ran about 5 hours during the night, flooding the bedroom and hall, the laundry shoot, and the entire basement, and on outside to flood the area around us. I heard it about 4:00, but thought little Ian was going to the bathroom, so didn't get up 'til I decided he'd been in there an awfully long time and should have been depeleted of all that milk he drank last night. When my feet hit the floor, they sank in an inch of saturated carpet. Yuk. No way was I going to deal with that alone, so shouted enough to wake big Ian out of his dead-like sleep. He checked the faucets outside while I dug out every towel, Ian's terrycloth bathrobe, etc. I could find to try to soak up some of it. Thankfully, it was the in-coming water, so it was clean. Still, though, it was no fun. I was able to get a carpet cleaner out by 11:00, so now it's just a matter of getting them dry again. We have the heaters going, as well as a fan borrowed from Ronna. If it was a nice sunny day like yesterday was, they'd probably be dry by now, but since it's probably only in the low to mid 50s, and rainy, it'll take all day at least! Oh, well, it could be worse! It could have been the black tank.